CHAPTER TEN
Birds fly out over the city, carrying my messages while I look through their eyes. I send the parakeet to the tower again, with a message that asks for Alaric’s aid in circumventing any parts of Aetheria’s system that have been compromised by Selene.
But which parts have? Finding that out is part of what the other birds are doing.
I send them flying out over the city, following officials from above, seeing who meets with whom, trying to understand who might be working for Selene and who is simply a normal official.
I can feel my mind being pulled in a hundred different directions as I do it, so that it’s hard to focus on any one thing.
I may need to do this another way. I start to head through the palace, watching everyone I see there for signs that they might be influenced by Selene.
How will I know? I have a list growing in my mind of those I’m confident are influenced by Selene’s suggestions: Octavio and Olivia, Nasos and others, but how do I add to that list?
There’s only one question that matters when it comes to finding out.
“What do you think about Selene Ravenscroft?” I ask an administrator.
I see the hesitation before he answers. “She’s an important force for order.”
I add him to my mental list, then hurry on, asking the same question of a senator named Mercal. He shrugs.
“I’m a little worried about her. I don’t know why everyone is suddenly on her side.”
I sigh. “Psychomancy. I told you all in the senate. She’s using psychomancy.”
“I remember, but you didn’t have proof,” he replies. “Have you gained it now?”
And that’s the problem. “I went there with officials to check on her. She’d tampered with her dampener.”
“I saw the report of that,” Mercal says. “It says there was no evidence of tampering.”
“That’s because she used psychomancy to influence the officials checking her,” I say.
Mercal frowns at me, looking as though he doesn’t know whether to believe me or not. “You want me to believe that she’s magically influencing almost everyone, and that the people who say she isn’t are also being influenced?”
“I know how it sounds,” I say.
“I’m not sure you do,” Mercal says, and moves away from me, looking at me as though I’m mad.
The trouble is I do know how it sounds. I’m asking people to believe that Selene has circumvented the dampener that should hold her powers in check.
That she’s using a discipline of magic she doesn’t have a history of employing, at a level beyond any other psychomancer in the city.
That she’s controlling, not just key senators, but officials throughout the city, and members of the guard.
I don't know if all of them are doing so because of that magic.
Maybe she has other means of influence, whether it's wealth, secrets, or threats.
Maybe some of those who support her genuinely want her to become empress.
She's certainly popular enough with the ordinary people thanks to her successes in the games.
I keep going, trying to find more of Selene’s supporters. The more names I can add to my mental list, the more certain I can be about who I can trust.
The trouble is, there are all too few names on that second list. I can trust Alaric, and probably Rowan. A few others who don’t seem to have been caught by Selene’s suggestions yet, perhaps because they haven’t come into contact with her at the games and haven’t gone to Ironhold.
And maybe there’s one more name I can trust, too, at least on this.
I make my way through the city, down to the spot between the merchant quarter and the noble quarter where Marcus’ villa is located.
It’s less ostentatious than Olivia’s home, with simple, white painted walls, but it’s still a large home in a wealthy part of the city.
Marcus is probably as rich as almost anyone else within Aetheria, with a full fleet of merchant vessels at his command.
One of his servants shows me inside. Marcus is there, standing next to a couch in a central chamber. He’s wearing a pale tunic, trimmed with gold, while a couple of functionaries stand next to him.
“… should result in the trade lanes being opened within the next month,” one says.
“That’s good,” Marcus replies, then looks over to me and gestures to the clerks. They hurry away, leaving the two of us alone. “Lyra. I wasn’t expecting to see you here. I hoped, but… does this mean you’ve thought about the conversation we had before?”
The conversation where he tried to explain that he was only running the death matches so he could uncover the corruption in the city?
“This isn’t about that,” I tell him.
I hear him sigh. “I’m serious about what I said,” he says. “And I want things to be better between us, Lyra. We were… we were so good together.”
He takes a step towards me, as if he might take me into his arms. I step back to avoid it. I can’t just forget myself and my principles in his arms, in his bed.
“I’m here because of Selene,” I say.
Marcus looks disappointed, but I seem to have caught his interest.
“What about her, Lyra?”
“I’ve been to Ironhold,” I say. “Selene has tampered with her dampener. I’m certain now that she’s using psychomancy to influence the senate.”
“Psychomancy?” Marcus says. I can hear the anger in his voice.
It’s easy to understand why. When the emperor wanted to destroy his family, part of the way he did it was to send in a psychomancer, who pushed his mother to sign over almost all their wealth.
“To influence the senate? She can’t be controlling that many people outright,” Marcus says.
“She doesn’t have to,” I point out. “A few suggestions here, a few there, and it’s enough. I don’t know who I can trust in the palace now.”
“You can trust me,” Marcus says, reaching out to touch my face. It would be so easy to lean into that touch.
“Can I?” I ask. “I hope I can, but all this business with the death matches…”
“I already explained that,” Marcus says. He sighs. “At least it puts me in a position where I can help you. I’ll do what I can. Will you ever be able to trust me, Lyra?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I… I’m still not certain whether you’re serious about rooting out corruption, or just digging yourself into it deeper to gain more control in the city. I’m sorry, Marcus.”
I pull back from his touch, leaving his villa. I hope he’ll help, but I don’t know for sure whether he’ll be able to do enough, or even if he’ll want to.
So, I head through the city again, making sure I’m not followed as I go to the resistance tower. Through the eyes of birds above, I can see the resistance members who watch me coming, hurrying back to the tower to provide whoever’s there with advance warning.
Maybe they’re the reason Alaric intercepts me before I get to the tower.
Of course, it doesn’t look like him. Today, his illusions make him look like some young noble scholar, wandering through the district in search of knowledge.
He lets those illusions flicker for a moment as he approaches me, showing me his real face, before the illusion falls back into place.
“Ah, there you are!” Even his voice is different, and I get the feeling Alaric likes being different people. He likes the opportunity to play parts and put on different faces. “Are you ready for our tour around the district?”
Alaric offers me his arm and I take it, which means he can lean close to me.
“Anyone who sees us now will assume I’m just a young scholar trying to impress a woman by showing her the sights,” Alaric murmurs.
He gestures grandly. “In that very tower there, the magus Alaxis lost control of a magical working that destroyed the whole upper floor, along with three towers around it!”
He lowers his voice again. “How are your efforts going in the palace?”
“I’m trying to work out who I can trust and who’s under Selene’s control,” I say. “She can’t just control everyone all the time.”
“I hope not,” Alaric replies. “But my own people have been looking around for similar signs ever since we met. We need to know who’s on her side, who’s on ours, and who is controlled by her even when they would normally work with you.”
I nod. “What have you found?”
“Too many people influenced by her to tell you them all,” Alaric says. “And that’s before we get into the ones who simply love her for her success in the colosseum, or because of what she represents.”
“A return to the empire,” I say.
Alaric nods. “With whatever that means for the people who hear that promise. One of the advantages she has is that she can make vague promises, and people can imagine that she’ll give them everything they need.”
“And people believe her?” I say.
Alaric nods again. “She has people out spreading rumors. She pays them to talk about how she’ll help the ordinary people.” He sighs. “The Republic has made it too easy for her to do it.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
Alaric gives me a long look. “You’ve seen how difficult people’s lives are in the slums. In plenty of places. I know you’ve tried to help, but I also know you’ve run into problems.”
“It’s just hard to actually get anything done,” I say. “Rowan’s trying to rebuild the slums, and we’re trying to make sure everyone has enough to eat, and that the gangs don’t run wild.”
"But everything conspires to stop you," Alaric says.
"Corruption. Nobles, gang leaders, and others who like things the way they are.
So, the ordinary people will grab for anything that promises them a better life.
We're going to try to make sure Selene's criers don't get to tell the story she wants unopposed. "
Meaning what? That the resistance would drown them out, disrupt their attempts with violence, spread their own propaganda? The resistance is used to using much dirtier tactics than I like.
“How are you going to do it?” I ask.
“However we can,” Alaric says, with a smile that seems like a real piece of him, despite his illusory features. “There’s something else we can do, too. We’re trying to help beast whisperers to leave the city quietly.”
Because Selene, or someone close to her, is trying to kill as many of those like me as they can. It’s another part of her plans. It feels as though there are so many pieces of it, all designed to come together in some way I don’t yet know.
“Are many going?” I ask him.
Alaric nods. “Some. Although not all. I believe there are those among them who may be persuaded to help you.”
“Help me?” I say. “How?”
“You learned a lot about your abilities from Lady Elara,” Alaric says. “But maybe there’s still more you should know.”
It’s an intriguing thought, but also a worrying one. Lady Elara taught me, but she also manipulated me. I don’t know whether another beast whisperer would do the same.
“Who are these beast whisperers?” I ask.
“No names, for now,” Alaric says. He puts a hand on my shoulder. “It’s just something to think about. If you decide to go forward with it, I’ll introduce you to whichever of them seems most suitable.”
I have plenty of things to think about. Who is and isn’t controlled by Selene, what her plans are, where the beast whisperers fit into it all. I’m grateful to have Alaric by my side right now, and I’m surprised by how natural and comfortable it feels to be so close to him.
As for the rest of it, I don’t feel comfortable at all.
I’m not sure where our relationship stands.
My deep attraction to him is still there, along with a certainty that he’s trying to do the right thing.
But can we ever be together again after we’ve hurt each other so many ways, and when Alaric is fighting from the shadows while I’m a part of the system he’s fighting against?
I don’t know where we stand with one another, but I hope at least we’ll be able to fight together to stop Selene and the other problems of the city. If we don’t, there might not be a Republic left at all.